Ponytail Do Transcendent Daytrotter Session

Balitmore's Ponytail take the unique majesty of sonic squalor and use it to create epic, spacious jams. So what happens when you strip all of that down and give a loud, raucous band acoustic instruments? What does it sound like? The answer is Zepplin. Go to Daytrotter and listen to the group re-arrange four songs from its surely Best-Of contender Ice Cream Spiritual. The most striking example is "Celebrate The Body Electric (It Came From An Angel)", the intro of which sounds like Led Zepplin's "The Battle of Evermore". It's pretty impressive, actually.

Listen to the original, then head over here for the acoustic one.

Ponytail MySpace Page

Cross-published on CIMI

Video: Ponytail - "Beg Waves"

Via P4K TV

Ponytail and High Places Announce Tour Together

Download: High Places - "From Stardust To Sentience"
Download: Ponytail - "Celebrate The Body Electric (It Came From An Angel)"

Two of indie-rock's most promising up-and-comers have decided to gang up for a tour of the West Coast and Canada. Ponytail, whose live show is, literally, better than Christmas, have been touring behind their energetically virtuoso, noisily melodic record Ice Cream Spiritual; and High Places, an excellent, but wholly different, duo who consolidate world music, psychedelia, and indie-pop into short, trance-y waves of songs. The latter released a compilation of previously released material earlier this year, and are set to put out a new record in the coming month. Both bands are playing a handful dates, which neither take them to Minneapolis or Chicago. Sad. Oh well. Away they go now!

Here are the dates:

Thursday September 25 2008 @ Grinnell College in Grinnell IA*
Friday September 26 2008 @ The Mill in Iowa City IA*
Saturday September 27 2008 @ Rhinoceropolis in Denver CO*
Monday September 29 2008 @ Kirby Court in Salt Lake City UT *
Tuesday September 30 2008 @ Badlander in Missoula MT*
Thursday October 2 2008 @ Nectar in Seattle WA*
Friday October 3 2008 @ Department of Safety in Anacortes WA *
Saturday October 4 2008 @ Richards on Richards in Vancouver BC*
Monday October 6 2008 @ Backspace in Portland OR *
Wednesday October 8 2008 @ Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco CA*
Thursday October 9 2008 @ TBD in Santa Cruz CA*
Friday October 10 2008 @ The Smell in Los Angeles CA*
Saturday October 11 2008 @ UC Irvine in Irvine CA
Sunday October 12 2008 @ Modified in Phoenix AZ *
Wednesday October 22 2008 - @ The Ottobar in Baltimore MD - Cal Robbins Benefit
Friday October 31 2008 - Todd P NYC in Brooklyn NY w/ DMBQ, The Homosexuals
* w/High Places

In other Ponytail news, the group is reportedly working on a clip for their song "Beg Wavs", which would be their second video for Spiritual, with the first being for album closer "Die Allman Bruder".

Ponytail MySpace Page
High Places MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)
jon@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com

Ponytail Do Pitchfork Guest List, Make Overlooked Records 2008 List

Download: Ponytail - "Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From An Angel

Ponytail's debut album for the We Are Free label, based out of Baltimore, is one of the year's most rambunctiously joyous records. Ice Cream Spiritual sounds as if one day, inspired by Deerhoof, noise-rock, and progressive heavy metal, Yoko Ono decided that after a lifetime of accomplishment, she had the dreadful realization that she simply forgot to bring the muthafuckin' rock (Album opener "Beg Waves" is a great illustration of that). So, in my alternate universe that doubles as an actual universe, she decides to waste no time at all in crafting epic anthems that leap from one musical idea to another, all while ensconced in a blanket of melody, distortion, and polyrhythm. Oh, but the band doesn't want to be that secure, and so they're constantly thrashing about an awesomely energetic manner, and that energy level is maintained at an insanely high level, even when Ponytail are engaging in a brief calm (such as the peaceful moments of soundscaping in first single "Celebrate The Body Electric", or the "Edge of Seventeen"-quoting "Small Wevs") before a righteous storm (pretty much the rest of the album).

In order to create a record such as this, one must have pretty eclectic, though very loud, influences. And Ponytail do. Check out the Guest List the group just did with Pitchfork, in which the vernerable indie website asks their favorite new artists question about their favorite songs, games, and movies. You know, the real in-depth stuff.

Band member Jeremy Hymen's favorite song ever? "Creeping Death" by Metallica. Awesome

Speaking of the 'Fork, they recently just included Ponytail on their Most Overlooked Records of 2008 list. Read it here, then watch the video for "Die Allman Bruder", from sophomore effort Ice Cream Spiritual, at the top of the post.

7.21 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory^
7.22 Brooklyn, NY @ The Yard^
7.23 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church^
7.24 Baltimore, MD @ Floristree^
7.25 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop^
7.26 Pittsburgh, PA @ Howler's Coyote Café w/ Bound Stems
8.19 Arlington, VA @ IOTA Club and Cafe*
8.20 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar*
8.21 Virginia Beach, VA @ Steppin' Out*
8.22 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas*
8.23 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory*
8.24 Boston, MA @ Harper's Ferry*
8.25 Montreal, QC @ Club Lambi*
8.26 Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace
8.27 Hamilton, ON @ Casbah
8.28 London, ON @ Call the Office
8.29 Pontiac, MI @ Pike Room
8.30 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean

European dates:

9.5 Nottingham, UK @ Chameleon
9.6 Brighton, UK@ The Albert
9.8 Manchester, UK@ Satans Hollow
9.9 Liverpool, UK @ Korova
9.10 Dublin, IE @ Whelans
9.11 Galway, IE @ Rosin Dubh
9.12 Midlands, UK@ TBC
9.13 Paris, FRANCE @ Fleche D'or
9.14 Lyon, FRANCE @ Grnnnd Zero
9.15 TBC FRANCE @ TBC
9.16 Fribourg, SWITZERLAND @ Frison
9.17 Brussels, BELGIUM @ VK
9.18 Amsterdam, HOLLAND @ Bitterzoet
9.19 Tilburg, THE NETHERLANDS @ ZXZW 2008
9.20 London, UK @ Astoria 2
9.22 London, UK @ The End

Ponytail MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

New Ponytail - "I Celebrate The Body Electric (It Came From An Angel)"

Download: Ponytail - "I Celebrate The Body Electric (It Came From An Angel"

Ponytail are a quartet from Baltimore who travel in the same circles as experimental multi-culti melodists Yeasayer and droney soundscapers Indian Jewelry. This fact should come as no surprise, seeing as all three of these bands are on We Are Free, the Yeasayer family imprint. So where do Ponytail fit in?

The band--who are often compared to Deerhoof, which, based on this song, is partially valid--are the energetic, youthful, punk and pop (but not punk-pop) influenced band who specialize in making sonic digressions. There's many of those--hence the Deerhoof comparison--in "I Celebrate The Body Electric (It Came From An Angel)", the Walt Whitman-biting first single from the band's forthcoming second album Ice Cream Spiritual.

Once June 17th rolls around, you'll be able to determine how an entire album's worth of that spastic, sugary approach works--but, based on how gloriously epic this seven-minute (patience, young Skywalker) sounds, as well as the reception to the band's previous work, I'd say that Ponytail has nothing to worry about; this is awesome.

Ice Cream Spiritual is out June 20th.

Ponytail MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)